Sergio Neptuna Talks: Merging Art, Comics, and Community
Welcome to the Truth in Us Art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And today, I'm excited to be in conversation with my next guest, an artist whose work merges everyday life with contemporary culture, crafting narratives that challenge perceptions and provoke thought. Born out of a passion for comics, movies, and music, his artwork is a celebration of the boundless power of creativity in the digital age. Please join me in welcoming the incredibly inventive digital artist, Sergio Neptuna.
Rob Lee:So, thank you for, for coming on and making the time. This is, it's going to be a treat, like, you know, because I have my ear to the street and my eyes to the boards and what's around and you get names and like, alright, who's this dude? And, now we're here. So I'm happy about this.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. This is crazy. I mean, I can't imagine somebody told you about me. I mean, I'm such a new artist in the city. So, I'm hoping that you saw the billboard or something like that or okay.
Sergio Neptuna:Alright. Cool. So it's I mean, again, it's an honor to be here, man. I'm you know, for somebody starting off and to be a fan of the show, then to be actually on the show, this is like, my my well, I just actually see you. It's kinda crazy.
Sergio Neptuna:You know? So so yeah.
Rob Lee:That's great. And, I wanna wanna set the stage. You you you're already gonna know. You already know my whole playbook. You know what I mean?
Rob Lee:And, I do. So, you know, for starters, like, describe your, creative background. Like, you know, I I I like to
Sergio Neptuna:We're not starting there. We're starting we're starting this is where we connect. Okay. I also grew up as a comic book head.
Rob Lee:Go on. Tell me.
Sergio Neptuna:Alright. So I'm from Winston Salem, North Carolina. A lot of people don't know where that is, but it's in North Carolina, A small city. But we had this place called Heroes. Great name.
Sergio Neptuna:Heroes aren't hard to find. It was a comic book shop. And I had my subscription there. I would go there and get 2 books. I would get Generation X, which is the spin off of Marvel.
Sergio Neptuna:And I had x men 2099. Those are the 2 that I would always get. So, and I just love the artwork, like, I grew up even more filled than the comic book, the books. I was big into the cards. Mhmm.
Sergio Neptuna:Like Marvel Masterpieces, Fleur Ultra, all that stuff. Joe Jesko, Judy Bell was another crazy artist that I grew up with and, I admired. So that's kinda where my my art side started. But to be honest, it really started with music. I think music and art are like brother and sister.
Sergio Neptuna:So my family I come from a musical family. My mom was the choir director at my church. She also played for the symphony. She played the flute. To be quite honest, I don't know if I would have even gotten to college had I not had a music scholarship because I wasn't the best student.
Sergio Neptuna:So, so yeah, yeah, yeah. So it really started with music. Just understanding, I always had a theory, I guess, if you do something every day, you'll get good at it. So I guess what I took from the music side, I kind of brought up to the art side. So I try to do something every day.
Sergio Neptuna:And as a human being, if you do something every day, you'll get better and better and better. You won't get it won't be perfection, but you'll become better just by practice. So, that's where I am
Rob Lee:with my art. Thank you. Wow. That's, it's it's like the, it's like you're you're you're learning to drive or what have have you. So it's hours doing it, that time doing it.
Rob Lee:It's, you know, I as I've mentioned numerous times that you know, I've been doing this for a very long time and doing a lot of it in the last few years at a very concentrated, like, high volume sort of way. And, yeah, I think you when you take a break from it, if you're doing it every day, you know, whatever your creative pursuit is, whatever your pursuit is, when you take a break from it, you gotta rest, you gotta recharge, but also you gotta still be dipped in it, especially when it comes to something that has an emotional response and has sort of like, I got feelings around this or as a lot of creatives encounter, I got insecurities around this. 100%.
Sergio Neptuna:It's a, I think not that I've, like, dipped my toe into it. It's more of a lifestyle. You know? It's almost like being like a samurai. You know?
Sergio Neptuna:You gotta go and, you know, practice and learn and watch YouTube. You know what I'm saying? Learn different people's techniques and, you know, get different brushes and, you know, just immerse yourself in the the culture of being an artist, you know? And and the camaraderie of it because I feel like, you know, I feel like it's my superpower. I I can it's it's almost At the end of the day, I can always fall back on.
Sergio Neptuna:I can really make some I can really create some dope shit at the end of the day. And the amount of, confidence that gives me is just, like, out of this world, you know. So that's the, that's the kind of the crux of everything. Just be like, you know what? I create stuff that people like.
Sergio Neptuna:You know. And I got I create stuff that I like. It's more important than anything. So
Rob Lee:And and before we we start talking about your work, I at least wanna throw this out there. This is the idea I've been playing with, and I'm gonna share this the first time with this podcast, actually. It's this this idea of, like, filled in lines, dotted lines, and dash lines. And what you were describing is sort of that checked offline, that fully solid one. Like, I know that I can make some dope shit.
Sergio Neptuna:Right? Yeah.
Rob Lee:Oh, I for me, my baseline is always because it's collaborative, right? You know, like if someone comes in,
Sergio Neptuna:I got I don't know
Rob Lee:what to do. You know what I mean? I'm gonna try my I'm gonna try my best to do my thing, but that's what it is. But my baseline, I sort of, like, filled in check is I know I can get audio out of this. I know I know I can control my side of it.
Rob Lee:I can research. I could get all that stuff done. And some of those other things, like, if it's a different environment, that thing becomes a little bit more of a dash line. Mhmm. I don't control that as much or if I may not have an updated artist statement or bio, more of a dash line.
Rob Lee:But, you know, some of those things, I put these sort of check marks in there and the lifestyle thing you're saying, absolutely. You know? I started applying that to how I navigate through the world, and I think a lot of creatives and people with creative sensibilities and and artists kinda live in that sort of lane of, I don't turn it off. It's always on.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. Especially because I work for the school system and it's summertime. And a lot of that downtime at work, I got my iPad out. You know what I'm saying? You know, I'm trying to you know, I got something on my screen that looks like I'm working, but I'm really out there just, you know, scribbling away.
Sergio Neptuna:And sometimes even, you know, with that lifestyle, I'll be in the bed 2 o'clock in the morning. And I know my fiance is like, go to sleep. Chopping away at some artwork, you know? I get up at 6 o'clock in the morning just to do art before everybody wakes up. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:I do an immense amount of classes that, yeah. But it's just like, this is the journey and the path that I'm on right now. Yeah. So, I'm gonna see what's I'm gonna see what's what's at the end of it. So that's the that's the goal.
Rob Lee:I I describe it as I'm riding this wave, and I wanna see where it goes. And, you know, it's it's one of those other things where when when I get up in the morning, I've been getting up a little later recently. Just I'm beat up. I get 66 days a week lifting. It's a little too much, but it's that.
Rob Lee:And but I think it's one of those things that it it applies, right, where I get up in the morning. I'm headed to the gym to try to get there by 7 because that's essentially when it opens. And I'm trying to get those wins. I'm trying to finish those sets, have that sort of positive energy going in. And because I'm a data analyst, it says it's the day job.
Rob Lee:Right? In in a in a school system, not these school system, but
Sergio Neptuna:a school. Okay.
Rob Lee:I kind of look at things through that lens. I was like, all right, maybe I should start tracking like when I'm doing an interview on a day that I've had those early wins is my confidence level higher because I had those wins first thing in the morning of finishing these sets and accomplishing in some new PR or what have you. And is my confidence level so much higher when I do these interviews? And where is it at after? Because inevitably, you know, as creatives, as artists, as anybody pursuing something, you're gonna have something that falls flat.
Rob Lee:You're gonna have something that's that's kind of mid. So I'm gonna put a pin in that, and I'm gonna I'm gonna go in and kind of set into the to this sort of thing of describe your current work. Give us give us your current work. We're gonna we're gonna get into the deep conversation, but
Sergio Neptuna:I'm gonna
Rob Lee:at least set that out there.
Sergio Neptuna:To be honest, my current work is is is infantile, man. To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out what my style is. So I just do a lot of stuff that I like, but I'm really gonna start like, it's almost like language. Like, I'm I'm putting my words together now, And then I'll have a full sentence. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:And once I have a full sentence, it's over for everybody. I'm joking. I'm joking. But no, seriously, I think art contains the world. So I have some ideas I wanna do.
Sergio Neptuna:I think my my current idea is I like word play. It doesn't say that in my my artwork now, but I like things that if you read it, depending on where you are in life, you'll get a different meaning out of it. You know, so I have this idea around, you know, with all this stuff going on with, affirmative action and things kinda getting rolled back. Mhmm. I've got this my and I'm giving you some, you know, how the sausage is made.
Sergio Neptuna:My my current idea is more of a America's got us fucked up. Mhmm. And some typography. But depending on where you are, that could mean so many different things. Mhmm.
Sergio Neptuna:America's got us fucked up could mean, oh, they got us fucked up. Or drug induced. They have us fucked up, you know. So it can it can be so many different meanings depending on where you are and how you translate those things. But I leave that up to the to the viewer, how they see that.
Sergio Neptuna:So that's kind of one of my goals to kind of make stuff more like that with kind of more thought provoking things.
Rob Lee:Yes. You're you're you're provocateur. I like this.
Sergio Neptuna:I guess. I don't know.
Rob Lee:Well well, and even that even in that sort of sentiment of, you know, America did this to us is another thing that's right there, you know, where that what we have sitting there. And, you know, when we return to these things that are, again, the dotted line, the check line thing. We thought it was a dotted line. We thought it was a check line.
Sergio Neptuna:Oh, 100%.
Rob Lee:And now I'm just like, oh, let's retroactively go back to this. And then Sixties.
Sergio Neptuna:The you know, we're going 70, sixties, we're going back in time.
Rob Lee:You know?
Sergio Neptuna:18, 70, sixties. Like, we're going back there.
Rob Lee:And it's like to your to your point, it's like America's got us fucked up because you you think that this is just gonna be fine?
Sergio Neptuna:Right.
Rob Lee:We're just gonna accept this?
Sergio Neptuna:100%. Yes. 100%. Yes. So so yeah, that's why I'm I'm really trying to say something.
Sergio Neptuna:I'm I'm not saying anything right now, but I'm really trying to start saying something.
Rob Lee:Is is it would it be safe to say that, you know, as a digital artist, right, you're in the sort of ideation and growth phase within your work, but you feel something like bubbling of this is the message that I wanna do, and I wanna use the work as a way to extend and share that message.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. That is is is twofold. It's also it's that and, just finding the art in everyday life. I think I did one of those one of my pieces where my son is in the, you know, dentist chair. You know?
Sergio Neptuna:But that's art. And the thing for me, my son's black. His dentist is Indian. And there's another black lady who's the assistant, you know? That means something.
Sergio Neptuna:That means something. At least to me, it does. When he was born, his doctor, the lady who delivered him, was a black woman. That meant something to me, you know? It even brought me back to, like, ancient times.
Sergio Neptuna:Like, we've been doing this thing for so long. You know, this process of bringing people in into the world. So having the first person he see be a Black woman meant something to me. I didn't think that it just happened to happen like that. You know, I'm always listening to the universe.
Sergio Neptuna:But, yeah, it was, I'm just trying to get those moments back into
Rob Lee:my art. It's, you know, I'm reading in there in the bio, you had this penchant for being able to to craft narratives. And and what I'm hearing was was that it's like, you know, a person will think about sort of the the the the the actual thing that happened, the the childbirth and those circumstances. But the way that you described it made it something much more precious and much more personal because it is that. And I think that's something about, like, you know, being able to paint that that sort of narrative.
Sergio Neptuna:Chad GPT did a did a good job. Where'd it go? Where'd it go? It works. No.
Sergio Neptuna:Well but seriously, that's what, you know, those moments are important. Yep. And and I and
Rob Lee:I like you know, you're touching on, like you know, I don't think your work is a photographer. It's it's in the earlier stages. Right? But I like that you're doing stuff that you enjoy because I think a lot of times and, you know, there's a lot of people that come on here and I get a lot of bios and artist statements and I'm like, what's your work about? You know what I mean?
Rob Lee:And I think a lot of times sort of trying to accomplish multiple layers because you fit a certain thing, you know, demographically speaking. Right. And it's just like, where's the you in it? And in it, when I was going through some of the images on your website of the work that you've done, I was like, okay. No.
Rob Lee:That's that's to him. I I get this dude, you know, from this, at least from this angle. And I was like, I see the Andre 3 k. I see
Sergio Neptuna:get on that. Let's get on that. Oh, I'm I'm looking on and and, also, I cannot post the video a picture unless I had the music to go with it. It's just I they're married together. I can't.
Sergio Neptuna:But to the Andre piece, for me growing up in the South, Andre is such a pivotal, pivotal, pivotal, pivotal, pivotal, pivotal. Help me out here.
Rob Lee:I like it. I like it.
Sergio Neptuna:Edit that out. I know. I'm sorry. You know, we all make mistakes. That's the that's the dash line right there.
Sergio Neptuna:He's such an important I'll go to that. He's such an important piece of, the culture. -Yeah. -Because me growing up, I'm 40 years old. You're a little older than me, but we kinda grew up around the same age.
Rob Lee:Younger than you, Jake. Are you? I'm 38.
Sergio Neptuna:Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My apologies.
Rob Lee:I was like, are we being spicy right now?
Sergio Neptuna:No. No. No. No. No.
Sergio Neptuna:No.
Rob Lee:I'm good. You got it. You got it. He's
Sergio Neptuna:such an important part because growing up in that time when AT aliens and you know, Southern playlist that came out, you know, unfortunately, in the black community, at least around that time, I think these have gotten better. Mhmm. Your sexuality, like, it was tested at all all times, you know. But Andre showed that you could be different and still be cool and accepted. You know, you didn't have to necessarily wear what everybody was wearing or listen to, Master P at the time or whatever.
Rob Lee:Master P. I love it.
Sergio Neptuna:I'm telling you, Andre was that person that made people think, well, alright, well, I like his rap. He's dressed like a genie. What? I can get with it. So for me, he was like the person like, he was like the big brother say, yo.
Sergio Neptuna:Be yourself. You don't have to dress in all the clothes. You don't have to wear waka rocker wear if you don't want to. You know what I'm saying? You don't have to wear fat form or fubu.
Sergio Neptuna:Look at these references. I'm telling you. You can you can shop at Hot Topic and still so go ahead.
Rob Lee:Let me let me throw this one out there to you, because that it's a really good point you're making. So I think freshman year of college, that was when, Speaker Box Slope Below came out, and I think that was sort of it's it's the it's the wrap up. Right? But which we've later learned was the wrap up, but in in essence, it was like them showing their individual things by proxy of this double element. They're each doing their own thing, and I gravitated towards, you know, a 103,000 more, and I always was kinda in that lane.
Rob Lee:And I know I've said this before in this podcast, but I'm an Aquarius, and I was hoping I was like, dude's an Aquarius. Right? And it's like, no. He's the Gemini. And I was like, nah.
Rob Lee:The big boy is the Aquarius. I was like, come on, man. And my brother is a Gemini, and he he acts like big boys the way that he's depicted, and I have more of the Andre three k sensibilities. Wow. But definitely, that, you know, that whole thing, all of it worked, and and I and I think sort of changing, I did a podcast for a while called unofficially black.
Rob Lee:And in it, my co host and I, we would sorta challenge. And we we we weren't as refined in it. We were just kinda, you know, barbershop talk, but, really, we were talking about sort of what are the topics of the week, you know, that's on our radar as black men or have you. And the it was born out of this idea of these are the 5 things a black guy can do. And I was like, I don't do any of those.
Rob Lee:Actually, I'm into professional wrestling. Oh, black guys do that. I was like, put me in what? Or I'm into anime. No.
Rob Lee:We're not into that either. And it's it's just sort of this weird dynamic of, you know, what you can do from a media standpoint. We're not even to what you were discussing. Right. What you can wear, how you can act, what is your sexual presentation
Sergio Neptuna:or whatever. Right. So yeah. And so he's he's like a patron saint in my life. You know what I'm saying?
Sergio Neptuna:Seriously, that dude, broke down so many just to show me that you can do it. You can be be you at the end of the day. Yeah. So that's why I did the art. And it's funny how people and that brings up, something I was talking about, last week.
Sergio Neptuna:It's just like, I did that picture last year, and I feel like I've gotten so much better since I did that. But everybody goes back to that. It's almost like, we want Kanye's first album. We want old Kanye. It's the same thing.
Sergio Neptuna:People people love that depiction of Andre. And I'm like, yo. I've gotten so much better. No. We don't care about that.
Sergio Neptuna:We want this. So it's like, that's just that's just the beauty of art. That's just, you know so, yeah. That's, that's the story behind the Andre piece.
Rob Lee:I I would tell you this that when I looked at the Caitrineta piece, I ended up going back and looking at the boiler room video. That's all your fault. You you made me go back and watch that. I wasn't planning on doing it today, but that's the effect of your work on this this 38 year old and
Sergio Neptuna:My apologies. I'm so sorry. You, bro.
Rob Lee:I'm getting you. And and I even see from from the the sort of, like, the the the the art standpoint. I saw the, king of diamonds, the Romare Bearden, as French
Sergio Neptuna:and Mads.
Rob Lee:So talk about, you know, once you you you got into that spot of this is what you wanna do creatively. Like, this is in at least has that sort of early interest. Yeah. Like, what was that that initial feeling of you know, I I I was I'll describe mods and then Okay.
Sergio Neptuna:Go ahead. Go ahead.
Rob Lee:When I I was listening to podcasts and radio and all of that stuff when I was, like, 2,009. Right? And I was just, like, not satisfied with my day job. You know? It's just, like, not creative.
Rob Lee:It was very much spirit sheets. And, you know, I was listening to a Kevin Smith podcast, and he'd mentioned what his audio equipment was just just in passing. He's like, yeah. I use the Fast Track Pro. I took that note down, and I ran across the street to the Best Buy audio section, bought mics, and spent, like, $400 on equipment.
Rob Lee:And that was my entrance into it. It's just like I almost felt possessed by the creative holy ghost. Yeah. That's that's what that was for me.
Sergio Neptuna:You know what? That's interesting because I have parallels that too. I used to work for ad agency for 7 years. And I felt like I was the I probably was the worst graphic designer there. Seriously.
Sergio Neptuna:And it's funny because I'm good compared to everybody else. But everybody in my job was just they they got it. And it it made me a machine, which is the gift and the curse because I can I can drill out stuff now that's just, like, really, really quick because I had to do it every day at my job? But I think because I've I've never felt so inadequate at a job that it forced me to put my attention other places. So it forced me into, I also did podcasts.
Sergio Neptuna:I've done short films. I've done, just doing art, getting back into playing guitar. All those things because I didn't I wasn't excelling here. My insecurities were here at my job. Now I had to express them somewhere else.
Sergio Neptuna:You know? So I understand, you know, that that feeling of, wanting to get out. Yeah. Wanted to be heard, You know? So I get it.
Rob Lee:So you had that that sort of initial, like like, spark or what have you described that for us. It's like, you know, did you know, when because, you know, I would imagine you have something where it just has that sort of experience. I'm not fitting. I'm not fitting whatever this is. You know, it's from a cultural standpoint when you especially when it comes to a job.
Rob Lee:Jobs and creativity, sometimes, it can be a clash. And I think depending on when you do it, like, I was young. You know what I mean? Like, I was 24, and I was like, oh, what do I wanna do? And this could have went in a very weird direction, and I could've been completely buttoned up if I didn't feel satisfied or satiated from this sort of creative inspiration.
Rob Lee:And, you know, it wasn't you know, it was a lot of money at that time, you know, to spend that or what have you, which, you know, I think maybe I did 2 podcasts, and then for, like, a month, the gear just sat there. And I was like, I'm gonna have to use this. I can't return it. You know? So so what was that like for you when you were like, I'm gonna start making my own stuff.
Rob Lee:I'm gonna start figuring this out. You might be getting controversial. Alright. Oh, be spicy. Go ahead.
Sergio Neptuna:Sure. You want me to be spicy. I'm sure. Alright. So here we go.
Sergio Neptuna:Alright. So I'm a leave the names out. You can infer who it may be. But what got me over the hump to like start selling my art is I was in Atlanta on, it might have been a anniversary trip With my fiance, we go to Atlanta and one of her friends takes us to an art show of this famous famous artist and we go there and I look around and I see like a orange ladder on the floor. I see like a blown up FaceTime as art.
Sergio Neptuna:You know, I see these little things. I'm like, wait a minute. This place is packed. Yeah. And I'm and I got I left there and I was like, if he can do this Mhmm.
Sergio Neptuna:And people are coming to see this, I have to do it. I, I, because it was just so like, thoughtless. Mhmm. You know? And I understand.
Sergio Neptuna:I used to work at an art gallery too. I understand sometimes about the story. But on the but on the surface of it, I was like, this is just this isn't for what he brought out, this is not what I, you know, I can do this. So, that that was a spark. Now this is how the universe works.
Sergio Neptuna:I was at the Black Boy Art Show, like 2 weeks ago, right? And, I didn't sell any art. I didn't expect to sell any art. However, I looked to my left and a girl under her arm had a picture of the person that I was talking about. You know what I'm saying?
Sergio Neptuna:So somebody bought the picture of him. I was like, see, that's the universe. Like, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:It might have been, you know, it's about perspective. It could have been see where you are, you know, or it could have been like, yeah. You thought it was gonna be easy. You you you
Rob Lee:have you have these things where it's like people remind me on occasion at night. People close to me, like my partner will remind me sometimes, and she'll say, yo, you've kind of, like, leaps and bounds, like, from where you were at to where you're at now, and I'm like, that's not it. That's not the thing I was looking for. I'm looking for something else. You know what I mean?
Rob Lee:Mhmm. And and I think when we have our own goals, those things feel really cool. But to your your your point, it's like, nah, this was my motivation. And now I'm kind of getting that reminder yet again, like the over, like I'm around, bro.
Sergio Neptuna:Just Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Sergio Neptuna:So, that's kinda how all this got started. Just realizing, yo, you can do this. If this person can get this going, then you can too.
Rob Lee:It's, it's kinda like do you ever watch, I don't know if you you watch any of the, I guess, it's the barbershop thing or shop,
Sergio Neptuna:Ryan.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. And I just remember the one with Tom Brady on there. He's like, I'm better than this one. Is that energy?
Rob Lee:I have that energy a lot, actually.
Sergio Neptuna:I understand it. I definitely understand it. I'm trying to get away from that energy if I can.
Rob Lee:Be petty. Be petty.
Sergio Neptuna:It's it's tough. I'm trying to, you know, as you get old as I'm getting older in my old age, I'm trying to, you know, I'm saying just keep it as pure as possible. Yeah. And we can and we can talk about that too. Even at the Black Boy Art Show, like, I I walked in there feeling like, yo, this is my this is my tribe.
Sergio Neptuna:This is my peep these are other black artists, black male artists. This this is my people. And I didn't get that energy out for it almost felt like it was everybody was in their little corners. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying?
Sergio Neptuna:And I was trying to mingle with people, where people like, nah, I'm doing this. So, but it kind of it kind of turned into that later on once all of the steam kind of, you know, got out the room. But, Yeah. I love the camaraderie of I guess because I was in the I I was in I was in the marching band. I was so I understand, like, community.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. So I wanna see more community for art, especially here in Baltimore.
Rob Lee:So so I'm gonna actually wanna ask you about that a little bit. And I'm gonna go a little forward, but definitely wanna talk about, you know, sort of the there's some process oriented stuff, but I definitely wanna ask this since we're on the topic. What is it that you dislike about, like, being around, being in the art scene? Because I find some people who are artists and say, I'm not in the scene, though. And you know that I'm around the scene.
Rob Lee:I'm I'm so old. I'm out of it or whatever the case may be. What what is your take, you know, like in terms of like some of the challenges, you know, of, like, the local, like, art scene here?
Sergio Neptuna:I don't know what the scene is. I know people. I know. I just wish we had a place where we could say, hey, look, these are all the things that are going on for artists. We've got a place for that because there's so many things that, I just don't know that are going on until it's already happening.
Sergio Neptuna:I mean, I would have loved to have been a part of this, you know? So, Yeah, just I would love for it to just be a place that we could all submit stuff for. Yeah. I mean, I guess that's a good enough answer for you to kind of, you know, figure out what we can, you you know, as as a community, what I mean, first of all, what is the community? That's part of it.
Sergio Neptuna:I I know my people. I know I know people in different pockets. Yeah. Just to have everybody together to be like, look. This is Baltimore.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. That would be great.
Rob Lee:It it it it's this feeling of decentralization, this feeling of their you know, you're right. There are some clicks, that are around, and it's not in a sort of negative thing. It's more of an observational thing of if you know one person, that person can probably connect you to someone, but you need that sort of entry point. Like, from my perspective, if I'm trying to do an interview or book someone, it's like sometimes it's referrals. Like, I might reach out to a person a few times, but that referral is the thing that gets me in, and I was like, okay.
Rob Lee:Cool. But with that, because it's set up in that way, at times it lends to like gatekeepers kind of floating in And they're like, oh, well, I'm the person you gotta talk to, but really, they're not. You know?
Sergio Neptuna:So most times when you can't find the person to talk to, is you. If only we had an archive of people that you have interviewed.
Rob Lee:Oh, my gosh. You know,
Sergio Neptuna:see. Maybe you are the oracle. You just have never realized. You gotta step into your role, man. You know?
Rob Lee:I mean, I I tell people all the time, I was like, look over here.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. Yes.
Rob Lee:So with it, now this is this is a sort of a shift, and but still still in the same sort of part of town, if you will. What does it mean? You're you've you've moved in from, you know, Winston Salem. That's that's where, like, CP 3 is from. Right?
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Lee:You say
Sergio Neptuna:yeah. He's from there. Yeah. Where'd it go? Yes.
Sergio Neptuna:He's from, he went to West Forsyth. Yeah. He's from there. And that's about it.
Rob Lee:So this this brings up this question. So moving in and, like, people have their sort of, you know, romanticism about a city, if they're from and they're doing the work here and so on, but you've you've moved in, and I would imagine maybe have a different perspective. What does it mean to you to be an artist with ties to Baltimore and knowing how Baltimore is presented outside of this area, what have you, which a lot of times is not a complete narrative? What does it mean that you'd be, you know, an artist here with ties to Baltimore? And and in what ways have, you know, been around being around people who are creating and figured it out a lot
Sergio Neptuna:of times, what does that mean for you, like, in kind of developing creatively? Baltimore is beautiful, man. I mean, such a cliche, but it really is. And when you talk about Baltimore, you're really talking about the people of Baltimore. And, I just did a video where I talked about, the shameless plug art therapy, YouTube, Instagram.
Sergio Neptuna:Where I said, you know, at my age of 40, I've done basically a lot of the things that I wanted to do. But a lot of those things were because of Baltimore and the connections to people I have here in Baltimore. The, once people in Baltimore realize that you wanna be a part of something, they will bring you in. They will put you at the table. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:You know, there's there I don't There's gate keeping, sure. But if people know that you have a good energy and you're here to help. Oh, this is this is the place to be. You can really I hate to say move up the ladder, but you can be amongst the crowd of people very quickly. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:Certain things I never would have thought I would have played been on stage at the Autobar playing guitar. What? Are you kidding me? I've done that. You know?
Sergio Neptuna:So far, the, the music thing they have on YouTube, I never would have thought I would have been able to do that. I did that. It also, yeah. I mean, it's been such a blessing for me, especially coming from a small city. The reason why I actually moved up here is because I saw people that looked like me that were making money.
Sergio Neptuna:You gotta understand growing up. All I want to do is make $40,000 a year. Now, $40,000 in Baltimore money is probably like a 120. But you know what I'm saying? But I really just wanted to make $40,000 a year, work at RJ Reynolds, shoveling tobacco.
Sergio Neptuna:And because that's what I saw people doing. -Right. -So, so for me to now make more than $40,000 a year and have responsibilities and I'm living my wildest dreams. It's only because of Baltimore and my connections to this city.
Rob Lee:That's, that's great. That is so, such a great answer. So so here's here's the process question I want to hit you with. Mhmm. What is so set the stage for us of, like, you know, that you want to work on something, you know, that you you want to make art, that ultimately you're going to sell, you're going to put out there for consumption, however you might you may deem it.
Rob Lee:What is the sort of first step when you're coming up with like this is going to be some new work that I want to do? As you know, I was touching on before we got started that I'm I'm thinking through what I wanna do for this next season. I'm already kinda in this ideation phase of, alright, how many interviews is it gonna be, What are the sort of topics and things of that nature? Well, for me, what I'm trying
Sergio Neptuna:to do now is I've been taking my camera everywhere. Just trying to get my original piece. A lot of things I can go on Pinterest, put some stuff together. But I'm really trying to get images that I see and try to use those, incorporate that into my art. That's the process.
Sergio Neptuna:You know, it's like, the way I look at it now is, it's like mountain climbing. You start off at the base, you know, with a project and then you get to the parts where it's a little rocky and, you know, it's some cold nights and it's not but you still gotta push through. And then you get to the summit and it's beautiful coming back down. It's beautiful coming back down. You And I miss that high of like, it's done, it's posted, and then I get up the next morning and I see all the imperfections in the art.
Sergio Neptuna:You know what I'm saying? So it's like, you know, or I look at an old picture and I'm like, why did I even post that? But what that shows me is there's growth in my art. Yeah. That I've gotten better.
Sergio Neptuna:What I thought was good a week ago, now I look back and it's terrible. So it's, it's the growth. It's the growth. But I I enjoy going up the mountain and coming back down. I I enjoy being out at a restaurant and think and thinking to myself, I got some art I gotta go home to finish.
Sergio Neptuna:It's like having a a good book. You know? It's it's almost like that. Like, I got a good book I gotta finish when I get home. So, yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:I find myself really I find myself at peace because I listen to a lot of podcasts. Yours is one of them, but I listen to tons of podcasts, especially when, like, the way my office is set up at my job. I'm a graphic designer, So it's a lot of time in front of a computer. If I'm not listening to an audio book, I'm listening to a podcast, you know. So, yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:But I just enjoy the process of creating, you know, making decisions.
Rob Lee:Yeah. So When you encounter, which we we all do, right, one way or the other, I I've talked about it in this podcast, and I've updated my process to account for some of these things because I'm always tweaking. Right? But every now and again, we run into some hiccups. We run into, like, burnout, things of that nature where the the fire is not not not igniting.
Rob Lee:The the spark isn't sparking. The the thing isn't thinking as it were. That that that sounded really weird.
Sergio Neptuna:But Okay. Okay.
Rob Lee:But when what do you do for that reset? And and I ask this because this is a the thing that I'm an audiobook guy, and the Austin Kleon book, he talks about the analog to digital loop. Right? So what is that thing for you that's the reset, you know, of when you run into those those blocks or those, creative, like, sort of challenges and getting work out or even working on your work.
Sergio Neptuna:I don't have those issues. I'm perfect. No. I'm playing. No.
Sergio Neptuna:No.
Rob Lee:I was like, alright. Next question. For the pleads.
Sergio Neptuna:No, it's still fun for me. So I can recognize not everything is gonna be a masterpiece. I got so many pieces of art that I'm just it's just tucked away that I will get to eventually. But I think for me, this is, you know, this is this is therapy for me now. Thank you for letting me have this seat.
Sergio Neptuna:It's the confidence, man. It's the confidence. Like, do you like my art? Do you really? Like, you know, I'm talking about Beyonce like, yo, what you like about this?
Sergio Neptuna:She's like, I like it. You were just saying that because we dating me over there. You know, it's all of that. It's like, you gotta keep your confidence level. Like, I know that I'm a good artist.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. I know I'm not at the bottom half of the art in this city. But when you look at my Instagram page
Rob Lee:Mhmm.
Sergio Neptuna:And I have 200 and 17 followers. It's like, well, what am I you know, it's it's and I, you know, that's me being transparent. Like, I'm just trying to get the 500 followers. Yeah. You know?
Sergio Neptuna:And with the comparison thing, we talked about that you see people whose art you think is, you know, that you may be a little bit just a tad bit better than and they have thousands of followers. I try to not, you know, because comparison is a thief of joy. Yeah. You know, but I would honestly say I know my art is better than the followers that I have. Maybe it's not the way.
Sergio Neptuna:Maybe I'm not promoting it the right way. But now even as I talk about it, it seems so stupid to put your value of your art in social media. Well, that's that's the thing. Right? Where it's it's
Rob Lee:sort of like thinking about what you're doing. I had to come to that realization. I have an LLC and the you know, I was thinking, like, alright. I want my LLC because, you know, it's a this is not you know, podcast ain't free. And, you know, maybe do ads for people and things of that nature.
Rob Lee:Let's just figure that out. And then I started looking at it, and I was like, that's not what I do. That's a thing that I do. But this is now I've created a second job for myself. Mhmm.
Rob Lee:And that's not that's actually sucking the joy out of that and and making it less fun. So I was like, no. Let's let's shift it. I I do podcasts. And if I wanna, like, shout out one of my friends or do an ad for one of my friends, Let's do that.
Rob Lee:But I don't wanna build something that feels like it's this because then you get into that analytic conversation. How many followers do you have? How many downloads do you have? And so on. And then you start fixing value and meaning to that, that it's misplaced.
Rob Lee:It gets to this sort of thing of how many posts do you do? The reason I enjoy doing this so much is and and one of the reasons it's still very independent is I I'm my own boss. I can kinda do what I want and talk to who I want. For instance, I know other podcasters. They look at your your your social media and say, oh, 200, something like that.
Rob Lee:You shouldn't talk to him. It's a waste of your time. And I was like, no. No. It's not.
Rob Lee:Not not at all. And I have, like, 58 100 followers or something like that, and I'll see other podcasters to to the point of confidence. I'm like, you're not doing anything. How many entanglement podcasts that you you hear in 2021 or what have you? They weren't good, you know, and it's sort of sort of that, you know, people in the scene know, you know what the thing is, people who are doing that, the real like, like when I talk to people, they're like, man, I wish I had someone that was doing that.
Rob Lee:It's like, well, you ran into him. He's I'm doing a real thing. And I think, you know, being big and bad about it when it comes to your confidence, people aren't used to that. People aren't used to you being able to speak for yourself and speak loudly and, like, confidently and can be able to back it up for yourself. Yeah.
Rob Lee:That's that's my take.
Sergio Neptuna:Hey. I appreciate that, man. That perspective is yeah. It's it's I think that's the thing. I mean, I'm gonna do art regardless.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. You know? And this is, this has been my time because I've had Ipads before and I never connected to the Procreate app like that or any other app to do art like that. But now it's just like, I'm on it. I'm on it.
Sergio Neptuna:This is my time to create, so I'm gonna create.
Rob Lee:Yeah. You know, when I'm when I dive into an audiobook or something and it hits me, and you mentioned something earlier, and I had this moment before I move into my my final question for the the real part of the podcast. I remember I was listening to some I I I have trouble sleeping, so I always put on, like, an audio I live alone, so I always put on an audio book. And, I don't know. Whatever reason, 1 morning, it's, like, 2 in the morning, it clicked.
Rob Lee:And I was like, where's my notepad? I wrote down, like, 10 questions just based off some I just knocked something loose and appearing it in the in in the slumber or what have you, and it's something about that. And one of the things I've done to keep a grasp on that, because you never know when you have that aspiration, especially for for me, I guess, when coming up with questions and observations, I keep a notepad with me. I gotta keep something with me. I gotta keep that thing on me, you know?
Sergio Neptuna:Yep. Yep. Yep. I got, I use Notion. Notion, for everything.
Sergio Neptuna:That's like my bible, you know. I mean, dude, even I got some stuff on here, like like my whole life. Like, I have a poop calendar and everything on here. Like, you know, you know, yes, man. Like I everything's on here.
Sergio Neptuna:So, from morning notes, I like to I like, you know, from the artist way, you know, doing your your morning pages and stuff like that. I have a I have a book log that I have on here of some of the books I've read, where I am with the percentage of the book and stuff like that. So I yeah. So definitely, I guess the theory is your brain and I guess it's from a creative standpoint. Your brain is for creating.
Sergio Neptuna:So anything that you can do to just write down, it doesn't hold that space in your brain. So I always go back to, oh, what did I write down today? So it keeps it. It lets my brain be free to kind of like do what it needs to do. Instead of whole, it's your brain is not for holding information.
Sergio Neptuna:It's for creating, at least in my my brain. I agree. Well, I use my phone to create to hold the information. That's why
Rob Lee:I have storage. I know. I I write down, like, some very much into ideation. And, you know, I was just thinking through in us a very pretentious way, at least the way that I'm using it to say brainstorming. But, I I was thinking through, like, ideas of alright.
Rob Lee:It may be a cool idea for a podcast. Maybe I don't wanna host it. Maybe I can pitch it to someone else to host it, and maybe I'm an executive producer on there, things of that nature. And I have this belief around, like, ideas. Like, I don't get really really caught on if I didn't put something out there and someone kinda gets the idea and they do do it before I do.
Rob Lee:That's what good ideas are for. I'd rather the thing be made. And, and I'm always you know, this is where confidence again comes in. I'm always gonna have ideas. And that's and that's sort of the thing.
Rob Lee:That's the one thing you won't be that is my deep, heavy mark check checkbox. Yes. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:And that's that's a gift, man, to, you know, to understand that there will always be ideas. You know? But yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rob Lee:So this is the sort of last question, I realized real question I have for you. We have people, they use the term, like, artists, you know, like like rappers. They'll say, I'm a rock star. And it's like, because you're not that good at rapping. But, you know, it's a weird relationship with certain terms.
Rob Lee:Right? What is your relationship with the term, like like artist? Did you struggle with it and and kinda accepting that as a term, that you may, you know, apply to yourself? Because I hear, you know, more folks are described as creatives at times or artist has a certain stank around it at times.
Sergio Neptuna:I think creative has a stinker. I can't stand that word. I'm a creative. I can't I cannot stand that. But, no, man.
Sergio Neptuna:That's my badge of honor, man. That's my, you know, Scarlet Letter is artist, man, for real. Like, wear it with pride, man. Like, if you are artist, man, like I said, you are a superhero.
Rob Lee:Mhmm. You know,
Sergio Neptuna:you can communicate, You know, we ingest things with our ears, with our eyes. So like, one thing I learned was that I was in the grad program at Johns Hopkins, in the film program, and I did a short film. And people were just associating things to the film that I never even thought about. He's wearing a red shirt and a red shirt means this. And I'm just like, it ain't he just came to the set with a red shirt on.
Sergio Neptuna:It wasn't even about that, but to be able to bring stuff out of people that from their past, their, their upbringing's through my art. That's powerful. That's powerful. I can be with the mayor and show them my art or I could be on Skid Row and show them my art. To be able to bridge the gap between those two different that's a lot of power.
Sergio Neptuna:Some people can't do that. So, yeah. If you're man, it's such an honor and a blessing to be an artist because not everybody can
Rob Lee:do it. 100%. And, yeah, you know, when I became aware of that sort of controversy around the term because there are some people who don't abide by that or don't live in that way, they just attach it to themselves because it means something. And and and it's like, what are we doing? You know what I mean?
Rob Lee:And I think you're right. It is a thing that not everyone does. It is a thing that at times feels rarefied, but I think we need to open that aperture a little bit more to be inclusive of folks that look like you and I because a lot of times, you know, we're we're that term is applied in a different way. There's a qualifier in front of it. And it's just like, no, just just artists.
Sergio Neptuna:Like, black artists?
Rob Lee:Yeah. You know, you have folks that they you know, again, I get all the statements that lead with identity before just what do you do? What what is it what is the thing? And, you know, I think I do this. I apply in in sort of artful mindset to this.
Rob Lee:I'm a podcaster. I think it's something important about how we term ourselves and when what terms that we use. So when people try to reject it or someone calls you something else, like, I've been called an influencer, and I'm like, I get a little like, what do you mean? But yeah, I like that you you defined it in that way. So here here's the the rapid fire portion, you know, kind of the wrap up of the real questions.
Rob Lee:So here's the rapid fire portion. This first one is ridiculous. Don't overthink them.
Sergio Neptuna:I won't. Trust me.
Rob Lee:It doesn't have to be healthy, but it has to be good. What is your sort of late night go to struggle meal snack that you're like, this hits? You're from the South, so, you know, I'm I'm waiting to hear something fried. Nah.
Sergio Neptuna:I think Baltimore was taking that a little bit out of me. Man, I hate to say this. So bland. What I what my go to snack was I would get some yogurt.
Rob Lee:Zero fat Greek yogurt thing.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. The Greek yogurt. Absolutely. I think it's called Chabot or something like that. You did Chobat?
Sergio Neptuna:No. No. It was it wasn't that. It was like, it was some kinda off brand. That was it wasn't that.
Sergio Neptuna:I'm I'm trying to save some money here. With some, like, you know, some some nuts and some, some dried cranberries and some honey on it.
Rob Lee:What is this healthy snack?
Sergio Neptuna:I'm trying to lose weight, man. I gotta get the 165, brother. I'm like 184. I gotta hear you. I'm I'm in my keto stage now.
Sergio Neptuna:I don't
Rob Lee:know. I was waiting to say, like, I need these ribs, brother. I need, you know, big Oh,
Sergio Neptuna:but before that before that, it would have been in the south. It would have been some not to say that that meal was keto at all. That was yeah. Anyway, I don't want anybody to come down on me in the in the comments. But I would go to cookout and I would get, a cookout style cajun chicken sandwich Okay.
Sergio Neptuna:With fries. That would be my go to in North Carolina.
Rob Lee:I hear you. I hear you. I'll I'll share this with you before I move to the next one. It was one time I was, a couple years ago, I was in, in Dallas, for a wrestling show, and me and my buddy is down there. And dimensionally, people don't really get how big I am in real life.
Rob Lee:Like, I'm 64, and I'm a monster of an individual. And when people see me, it's like, I see the face and I recognize why is it on a different body? That's sort of the energy. Right. And this is maybe the best compliment or the dirtiest shade I've ever gotten.
Rob Lee:Dude looked at me when we were in Texas, and he was like, damn, bro. Like, you should be working a grill, man. Like, get the cookout. Wow.
Sergio Neptuna:I had that. It can mean so many different things. It could be like a status thing. Like, you are the father of the family. Oh, you made a family.
Sergio Neptuna:Like, what does that mean? Because dad, dad, that's kinda weird, man. You know? See that see it full circle. Depending on where you are in life.
Sergio Neptuna:Right. What are the things that Yes.
Rob Lee:So, you know, a lot of us, we we do multiple things, right? We have multiple, like, side projects and other skills that, you know, if we're in it, we gotta learn other things. But let's talk about something that you you don't have as a talent or a skill that you would really want. What is that what's another talent that you would like to have? Like, you're like, I need that.
Rob Lee:I need to be able to do this better.
Sergio Neptuna:I think if I could be like an MMA fighter, like, if I could just, like, choke somebody out.
Rob Lee:So cute it wasn't.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. Like, if I could, like, be a boxer and just knock a dick out like that. I just, you know, oh my good. I'd be a different person, man. If I could just right hook somebody.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. I think that would be if I could just do
Rob Lee:that, I'd be I wanna do physical things that my size didn't denote. So, like, I wanted to practice Muay Thai because I wanna trip someone, like, leg kick, and they just flip over.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. Yes.
Rob Lee:Something about the visual of flying a to someone's chin piece.
Sergio Neptuna:Embarrass somebody. Yes. I'm telling I want somebody to shit on themselves. Put in
Rob Lee:the diary.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. I wanna hurt somebody in the juice. I do. I'm telling you, I really wanna, you know, and I'm a nice guy. But if I had that ability That's that's one of the funniest thing in the world.
Sergio Neptuna:Get the art. Take the art out. Forget the art.
Rob Lee:I'll trade my art so I'll bring someone into
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. Sanctify these hands. Yes. I want yeah. I want no more art.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. We're going straight Jon Jones.
Rob Lee:I mean, I I saw my man, Derek Lewis the other day through a flying knee. Yeah. And I was like, 1, he's an Aquarius. 2, he's a heavyweight. I was like, look.
Rob Lee:I can do this. I can throw a flying knee.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes, man. Defying gravity. That's a big dude too, man. Not a small guy. Yes.
Rob Lee:His balls get hot too.
Sergio Neptuna:Hey. There you go. Right? My ball was hot.
Rob Lee:What is that one treat? You know, because there's a storytelling thing too that that we all kinda touch with. You have the the comic background movies and and things of the sort, and even a lot of music has the storytelling element to it. What do you think makes for a good storytelling?
Sergio Neptuna:It's simple. It's normal. Explosion. A new normal. That's storytelling.
Sergio Neptuna:You know, that's drama. That's that's the formula to add. When you distill everything down, that's what it is. Normal explosion, new normal. You know, so that's pretty much it.
Rob Lee:Here's the last one. This is the one I added. Is it? There was one more. There's one more.
Rob Lee:This is the last one I have for you. It was, you know, I added this one because it was only 3 initially, and I added this one based on something you said earlier.
Sergio Neptuna:Hey, man. Hold on. Just put this out there. I paid you good money for this interview, man. Paid you good well, I'm getting my I'm getting my hour and 15 hours.
Rob Lee:There's no payola here. But, here here's the last question. So and this is gonna be a challenge, I think. I have one, and I'll share mine with you. And I actually got one of the artists I interviewed, He he did me see did a nice favor for me.
Rob Lee:He made a card. You know, you talked cards earlier. He made card of one of my favorite comic book characters. So I'm gonna ask you, who is
Sergio Neptuna:your favorite comic hero? Oh, easy. Gambit. Really? Smooth.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah, man.
Rob Lee:This guy.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. Gambit was the coolest dude, man. I like Spawn. I I mean, that's just like a but, yeah. Gambit was just, yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:He was that dude. He was a yeah.
Rob Lee:Okay.
Sergio Neptuna:You know, like, side note, I gotta ask you this. Because I have a theory. You can tell a lot about a person based on who their favorite Ninja Turtle is. So who's your favorite Ninja Turtle? Okay.
Sergio Neptuna:This is what You look like you look like a Michelangelo guy.
Rob Lee:Funny you should say that. My brother's a Michelangelo guy. Okay. Everybody that I know that has known me, we we get into the turtle conversations. They're saying there's a duality to me that I'm 2 guys.
Rob Lee:Okay. Otto and Rafael.
Sergio Neptuna:Ah, okay. Alright. And I really That's like that's opposite sides of the spectrum. Yes.
Rob Lee:It is. Wow. I'm a I'm a cusp Aquarius, so I have the sort of Capricorn energy that's very, like I I like to be petty, but then it's sort of, like, overthinking. And what's the next thing they were gonna do, the airiness of an Aquarius? And it's always been that way.
Rob Lee:When I was younger, it was definitely, you know, love Leonardo, leadership. But and watching that first movie, the live action one, the one that was probably the best one before it got all crappy. 100%. I was like, yo, this is just a Raphael movie. He's I've watched it, like, recently, And I was like, I relate to Raphael more than the rest of these guys here.
Rob Lee:And it's it's kinda that. It's almost like when someone ask you, is it Michael Jackson or Prince? And it's like Michael Jackson when you're younger, Prince when you're older. Mhmm.
Sergio Neptuna:That's deep. What is your turtle? Leo. No. Leo.
Sergio Neptuna:Oh, I'm sorry. I I yeah. I think it's Leo. I know it's Leo. He's my favorite.
Sergio Neptuna:I judge people
Rob Lee:who pick Donnie. I look at him like side eye.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. It's not too actually, yeah. Donnie's a kinda weird, man. Yeah. Yeah.
Sergio Neptuna:They're definitely Internet trolls for sure. Yeah. I I will be going to
Rob Lee:the movie tomorrow, by the way.
Sergio Neptuna:I, I was asked to go yesterday to take the kids out there, but we're probably gonna go this weekend.
Rob Lee:Oh, yeah. I was
Sergio Neptuna:here for this podcast, so I couldn't go.
Rob Lee:So We we gotta we gotta trade notes on it. We gotta trade notes on it.
Sergio Neptuna:Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, Sada, before we go, can I just give a shout out to a couple artists?
Rob Lee:Yeah. Let me let me do let me do my my sign off thing and then you got, you know, all of that. Go for it.
Sergio Neptuna:Go for it.
Rob Lee:So one, you know, thank you. Thank you for for making the time and being a part of, this the the best podcast in Baltimore. I'm gonna just say it. And thanks for being a part of it. And, I wanna invite and encourage you to share with the listeners your final thoughts.
Rob Lee:You know, like, you know, social media, website, all of that good stuff, but any shout outs that you have?
Sergio Neptuna:I wanna start a couple artists that, you know, have been quite instrumental in my maturation as an artist. Adam Stabb is one of them. The you know, I started off graffiti, documenting graffiti. He wanted to be a part of graffiti scene, and he's somebody that kinda took me under his wing. He's one of those people that, like, we we haven't seen each other in a long time, but when we see each other, it's like nothing nothing stopped.
Sergio Neptuna:That's my guy. So Adam Stabb, Brian Brian Robinson, who's actually been on the show too, from the Black Genius art show. His story is crazy because I remember the first time we met, we were at the creative alliance doing a like, a music video bash together, and we're just showing off our art and, you know, the video around. And I went outside, me and him went outside and my car got towed and he took me to get my car picked up, you know. So ever since then we've been cool and I saw that guy from day 1.
Sergio Neptuna:Tell me I'm gonna make art every single day and now look great that he got his own gallery. So that's not inspiration for somebody like me to see the grime and him put in the the man hours, the person hours. I don't know if this gonna be, you know, correct in in years. The person hours, and look where he is now. He's thriving.
Sergio Neptuna:And also something somebody as amazing as, somebody else you had on the show. And we talked about this. Monica Kegel. Mhmm. She's like the Tom Brady of this.
Sergio Neptuna:To be so young. Like, she's just crazy. And I reached out to her on Instagram, like, how are you doing this? How are you getting these show? And she You know, just something as simple as reaching back out to somebody like me, who is an aspiring artist to hopefully get to where she is, which I I will probably never get to her level.
Sergio Neptuna:But the fact that she responded back to me means a lot.
Rob Lee:So I
Sergio Neptuna:just want to shout those people out. And, you know, Travis Case, another guy who does voice over that you interviewed, good friend of mine. That's my brother. He always inspires me. I used to kinda be like his his boss because we used to both work at Morgan together.
Sergio Neptuna:I was a Morgan. I'm a Morgan alum. Yes, I know. He was I was a professor at Morgan and he was kinda, no. I was he was the assistant there.
Sergio Neptuna:I guess I wasn't his boss. He was like, but anyway, but now to be out of that and to me be more inspired by him than he is by me is just, it's a blessing to have that friendship that we can continue to inspire each other. So hats
Rob Lee:off to the people. That's really dope. Yeah. And, Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Lee:I mean, every person you mentioned has been on here, so that's great. I mean, love Adam. You know, he's great. We run into each other regularly at pie time getting, some delicious coffee. Mine's is just super black.
Rob Lee:But, yeah. Website, social media. Tell the folks.
Sergio Neptuna:No. Before we get there, I'm a I'm a give you your flowers too, man. Like, I don't. I think some people don't understand, like, these dignitaries in Baltimore in the Baltimore area. And you're one of them.
Sergio Neptuna:Like, you know, it's the kind of same reason why I'm doing the art. It's because I'm trying to leave a legacy. When I'm dead, Lord willing, the artist still continue. And it's the same thing about what you're doing. Like you're you're making time capsules of these amazing people.
Sergio Neptuna:But only an amazing person can do that. So hats off to you, man. Because, I mean, to be able to and I know sometimes it probably gets tough for you. You probably don't have it in you. You might not even had it in it in you for this interview.
Sergio Neptuna:But to come off and it seems as if you're genuinely interested in somebody from Winston Salem, North Carolina means a lot, man. I mean and, again, I can't I can't thank you enough. I've done a lot of cool stuff this year, but this is probably the coolest thing I've done this year. So I wanna make sure I I give you your flowers too.
Rob Lee:Thank you. That's very special to to hear. I appreciate that. Thank you. This is it's great.
Sergio Neptuna:Yeah. I'm Sergio Netuna. Sergio, Netuna on all social media, which is only 2 social medias, which is Instagram and Facebook. Yep. That's my that's my name.
Rob Lee:And there you have it, folks. For the great Sergio Neptuna, I am Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just gotta look for
Sergio Neptuna:it.
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